At the East Gate of Aju County City, several Martial Alliance martial artists were standing guard.

On top of the city wall as well, Martial Alliance martial artists could be seen at regular intervals.

Normally, one or two government soldiers would stand at the gate as a formality, but since this was Martial Alliance territory, it seemed the magistrate’s office had let go of the work.

When the three arrived at the East Gate under the “escort” of the patrol guards, a man approached them.

“Hu Gae, welcome.”

A man who looked to be in his forties, with calm eyes, offered Hu Gae a formal martial salute.

“Ah, Unit Lord Myung. It’s been a while.”

Hu Gae returned the greeting and continued.

“The last time I saw you was at the Alliance Leader’s seventieth-birthday banquet, so it’s been almost three years.”

“Hu Gae, the Alliance Leader’s seventieth-birthday banquet was four years ago.”

“Oh, was it? Living without thinking, I didn’t even notice the years passing.”

Hu Gae laughed awkwardly and asked,

“But why are you here, Unit Lord Myung?”

“I was visiting the Aju branch and happened to be inspecting the patrol.”

“Perfect timing. Thanks to Unit Lord Myung, we can skip the whole identity-verification hassle.”

Once Hu Gae’s identity was confirmed, the patrol leader quickly said,

“Hu Gae, we apologize for inconveniencing you.”

“It’s fine. If anything, I liked seeing how cautious you were.”

“Then we’ll continue our patrol.”

The patrol guards saluted Unit Lord Myung and Hu Gae, then spurred their horses and galloped back down the main road.

“Unit Lord Myung, it’s very good to see how strict the Martial Alliance’s discipline is.”

At Hu Gae’s words, Unit Lord Myung replied evenly.

“It’s the times. Everyone is on alert. Spies from the Demonic Eight Divisions are watching for an opening.”

Unit Lord Myung glanced at Kwak Yeon and Jin Cheongha beside Hu Gae.

“Little brother Kwak, greet him. This is the Martial Alliance’s Hocheon Unit Lord—Blue-Rain Sword.”

Kwak Yeon gave Unit Lord Myung a respectful martial salute and said,

“I am Kwak Yeon, a lay Taoist of Samryeong Palace on Wudang Mountain.”

A flicker of surprise passed through the Hocheon Unit Lord’s eyes, then vanished.

“I am Myung Jincheon, Hocheon Unit Lord of the Martial Alliance. I have long heard of Master Kwak’s reputation.”

Hu Gae spoke to Jin Cheongha as well.

“Jin sister, greet him too. From now on, you’ll be living as family with Unit Lord Myung.”

Jin Cheongha offered Unit Lord Myung Jincheon a polite salute.

“I am Jin Cheongha of the Reed-Blossom Gate in Nanjing.”

Hocheon Unit Lord Myung Jincheon returned the salute.

“So you are Jin the heroine—Nanjing’s One Flower. I have long heard of your reputation.”

When the greetings ended, Hu Gae hurriedly said,

“Unit Lord Myung, we’re worn out from a long road. We’re going into Aju County City to rest—if there are procedures, I’d appreciate it if you’d hurry them along.”

He was asking to “hurry the procedures,” but what he really meant was: Don’t make this troublesome. Just let us through the gate.

But—

“Understood. We’ll do only a quick inspection of your carried items.”

Thanks to Hocheon Unit Lord Myung Jincheon’s “consideration,” the three had to lay out the items they were carrying in front of the Martial Alliance guards before they were allowed to pass through the East Gate of Aju County City.

“Unit Lord Myung—your friend’s still as rigid as ever.”

Once the East Gate was far behind them, Hu Gae clicked his tongue.

“Honestly, he’s the kind of guy you just can’t grow fond of.”

What bothered him was that his pride as Hu Gae of the Beggar Clan had taken a hit.

“Isn’t it just because he’s faithful to his duty?”

At Kwak Yeon’s words, Hu Gae nodded.

“That’s true, but a person has to have a bit of looseness to them. There’s a saying too—fish can’t live in water that’s too clear.”

Kwak Yeon knew Hu Gae was subtly aiming that at him.

He was still awkward at mixing with people.

Jin Cheongha cut in.

“Sub-Branch Master, how about we secure a guesthouse first? There are a lot of travelers on the streets—if we’re not careful, there might not be any rooms left.”

Hu Gae flinched.

Now that she mentioned it, there were quite a lot of people on Aju County City’s main street.

He knew crowds were flooding toward Wuhan because of the All-Under-Heaven Heroes Assembly, but he hadn’t expected it to be this packed.

“Right. First, we grab a guesthouse.”

Hu Gae nodded readily and shot Kwak Yeon a sidelong look.

“If we want something decent, it’s better to head toward the central district.”

His will to squeeze a proper reward out of five days of hardship was obvious, so Kwak Yeon nodded.

“Let’s do that.”

As the three walked along Aju County City’s main street, the sounds of drums, gongs, and flutes drifted from up the road.

—THUMP! THUMP!

—CLANG! CLANG!

—TOOT-TOOT-TOOT! TOOT-TOOT-TOOOOT!

They could see several musicians marching while beating drums and gongs and blowing flutes. Behind them, a procession followed carrying multicolored flags, and spectators had attached themselves to the side of the procession and were trailing along.

“An acrobat troupe.”

Hu Gae continued, eyes intrigued.

“People are swarming to the Heroes Assembly, so they came to make a killing too.”

Kwak Yeon had heard about acrobat troupes from his two older brothers before. They pulled off all kinds of feats, and the fun of watching them was immense.

His brothers had even said watching an acrobat troupe was a lifelong wish.

Under tall poles hung with multicolored flags, acrobat troupe members could be seen performing their tricks.

Each time, the spectators burst into cheers and applause.

—WAAAAAH!

—CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP!

Kwak Yeon suddenly imagined that his two older brothers might be somewhere among those spectators.

He didn’t know where his family had gone, but he doubted his grown brothers would still be cultivating slash-and-burn fields.

They’d idolized the Grand Assembly as much as their father had in his youth, so it wasn’t impossible they’d come all the way to Aju County.

And if so, they wouldn’t miss an acrobat troupe, which meant they had to be somewhere in that crowd.

It had been his father who sold him to the Hadongjo warrior.

He had felt hurt toward his mother and brothers, but he had understood—because they hadn’t been in a position to stop his father.

‘If my brothers really are there... would they recognize me?’

Kwak Yeon immediately shook his head.

They’d been separated when he was too young, so his brothers’ faces were hazy now.

‘If I can’t even be sure I’d recognize them, how could they recognize me—when I was even younger back then—and now I’m grown?’

Kwak Yeon felt a faint sorrow at how the years only widened the distance between him and his family.

In the meantime, the acrobat troupe procession had come close.

—THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

—CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

—TOOT-TOOT-TOOOOT! TOOT-TOOT-TOOOOT!

As if urging people to clear the way instead of blocking the road, the musicians’ playing turned rough.

“Little brother Kwak, step aside.”

Hu Gae had already moved to the side of the street with Jin Cheongha.

Kwak Yeon realized his mind had been snared by the procession for a moment and hurried to move aside too.

‘Huh...?’

But unlike what he intended, his body didn’t move.

Not only that—every sound in the world vanished, and in its place only the drums, gongs, and flutes filled everything.

—THUMP! THUMP! CLANG! CLANG! TOOT-TOOT! TOOT-TOOT!

The sound was so sharp it felt like it was tearing at his eardrums, and it was hard to gather his thoughts.

‘Sound Arts!’

Among martial masters, there were those who loaded their inner force into sound and killed with Sound Arts.

Kwak Yeon realized he had been ensnared by it without even noticing.

They had exploited his carelessness—because he’d assumed it was just an acrobat troupe’s music.

‘Even so, how is the Honwonmusang Technique not reacting?’

Kwak Yeon immediately understood why.

‘Because they didn’t load inner force to kill.’

It was a performance that muddled the mind with bizarre melody and rhythm.

With no direct danger, the Honwonmusang Technique wasn’t provoked, and since no invasive force was piercing in, his External Spirit Boundary qi didn’t react either.

‘Ah. Their goal is to muddle my mind with melody and restrict my movement.’

Men carrying multicolored flags rushed out and surrounded Kwak Yeon.

—WHIRRRLK! WHIRRRLK!

The fluttering flags encircled him and began spinning fast.

—CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! TOOT-TOOT! TOOT-TOOT!

As the musicians’ playing surged like a storm and the multicolored flags spun in a whirling ring, Kwak Yeon’s mind grew even harder to hold together.

Soon, the forms of the world vanished from his eyes, and a pitch-black abyss replaced them.

Kwak Yeon realized the multicolored flags had unfolded a formation.

‘An illusion!’

He understood with his head that it was a hallucination born of sound and light, and yet the sensation was so real that he couldn’t help but be thrown into confusion.

Even so, Kwak Yeon understood clearly that a true attack would follow at any moment.

—WAAAAAH!

As the musicians’ playing battered down like a storm and the multicolored flags rippled and spun around a person standing in the middle of the street, the spectators began screaming in excitement.

To the spectators’ eyes, it looked like the acrobat troupe members were coordinating and unfolding a promised trick.

—SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

Even when they saw acrobat troupe members in heavy makeup draw gleaming blue blades, the spectators didn’t grow afraid—if anything, they cheered louder.

Curiosity rose, and the spectators began to crowd in, encircling the troupe.

Sa Gwirang, First Kill of the Hidden Moon Forest, watched from a spot just one step removed from the spectators—and smiled with satisfaction.

For the Dark Cavern Taoist to be bewitched this easily by the Wanderer’s Soul-Settling Melody, and to fall into the Hidden Moon Annihilation Formation.

It could only be called a perfect success.

Because the target was a master of the Transformation Realm, they had deployed half of the Hidden Moon Forest’s top-grade assassins for this operation.

Not only that—they had built the plan around the Dark Cavern Taoist’s most vulnerable points: Sound Arts and formations.

That this was inside Martial Alliance territory, and the Dark Cavern Taoist had let his guard down, must have helped as well.

Either way, the Dark Cavern Taoist had been caught in the Hidden Moon Forest’s trap.

Right now, the Dark Cavern Taoist would be wandering in a pitch-black abyss, unable even to find direction.

Once ensnared by the Hidden Moon Annihilation Formation, the longer time passed, the more one’s vision twisted into chaos—and the more deeply one’s soul was scattered by the Wanderer’s Soul-Settling Melody.

And in that moment, there was no way to defend against the blades that top-grade assassins would quietly thrust out from the darkness.

Because the Hidden Moon Forest’s top-grade assassins carried no inner force or killing intent on their blades—meaning even a Transformation Realm master’s danger-sense could never detect them.

‘With ten top-grade assassins, they’ll chop that bastard to pieces in the blink of an eye.’

Seeing the top-grade assassins disguised as acrobat troupe members slip away as if melting under the fluttering multicolored flags, Sa Gwirang turned her head.

She needed to eliminate the other targets assigned under this Aju “release” operation.

She could see Hu Gae of the Beggar Clan and Jin Cheongha, Nanjing’s One Flower, urgently forcing their way through the spectators.

“Move, now!”

“Please, get out of the way!”

The two of them had realized something was happening to the Dark Cavern Taoist and were charging in.

Sa Gwirang’s wrinkled face twitched as she stared at Jin Cheongha.

‘Nanjing’s One Flower....’

Even as a woman herself, she had to admit Jin Cheongha’s beauty was exceptional.

—CLICK.

Sa Gwirang’s gaunt hand trembled as she stroked the hidden weapon that sprang from her sleeve—Ink-Nail Moon Needles.

‘Nanjing’s One Flower. I’ll be the one to cut off your breath.’

Sa Gwirang sent Sound Transmission to Fifth Kill, who was blending into the spectators and closing in on the two.

—Fifth Kill. Make the Beggar Clan beggar the target.